In short. If your financial year ended on 31 December 2025, your corporate tax return and any tax payable are both due by 30 September 2026.
There is no general extension. Late filing costs AED 500 a month; late payment costs 14% a year on the unpaid tax.
You must file even if you made a loss, had no activity, are in a free zone, or qualify for Small Business Relief.
Who the 30 September deadline applies to
The UAE corporate tax return is due within nine months of the end of each tax period, and the tax is payable by the same date. Most UAE companies use a January-to-December financial year, which is why 30 September 2026 is the date that matters for the majority of businesses this year. If your year end is different, so is your deadline.
| Financial year end | Return and payment due |
|---|---|
| 31 December 2025 | 30 September 2026 |
| 31 March 2026 | 31 December 2026 |
| 30 June 2026 | 31 March 2027 |
| 31 December 2026 | 30 September 2027 |
The obligation covers every registered taxable person: mainland companies, free zone companies, branches of foreign companies, and individuals whose business turnover exceeded AED 1 million in the calendar year.
What you actually have to file
The return is completed online in the Federal Tax Authority's EmaraTax portal. It is not a long form, but every number in it must be supported by your records. In practice you need:
- Financial statements for the period — a profit and loss account and balance sheet prepared under IFRS (or IFRS for SMEs). Audited statements are mandatory if revenue exceeded AED 50 million or you are a Qualifying Free Zone Person.
- A tax computation — accounting profit adjusted for items such as half of entertainment costs, fines, non-approved donations, the interest limitation and exempt income.
- Related-party and connected-person schedules where transactions with owners, directors or group companies exceed the disclosure thresholds.
- Your elections — for example Small Business Relief, or the transitional rules for assets held before corporate tax began.
- Payment of any tax due, using the payment reference generated by EmaraTax.
You do not have to file and pay at the same moment, but both must be complete by the deadline. Bank transfers to the FTA can take a day or more to be credited, so pay several days early.
What it costs to be late
| What went wrong | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Return filed late | AED 500 for each month or part of a month for the first twelve months, then AED 1,000 a month |
| Tax paid late | 14% per year on the unpaid amount, calculated monthly from the day after the due date |
| Registered late for corporate tax | AED 10,000 |
A worked example. A trading company has taxable income of AED 600,000. Its tax is 9% of the amount above AED 375,000, which is AED 20,250. If it files and pays three months late, it pays a late-filing penalty of AED 1,500 and a late-payment penalty of roughly AED 709 — about AED 2,200 on top of the tax. Leave it for two years and the filing penalty alone reaches AED 18,000.
The penalty is fixed, not proportional. A company with no tax to pay still receives the AED 500 a month for a late return.
If you registered late
The FTA's waiver initiative cancels the AED 10,000 late-registration penalty only where the first return was filed within seven months of the end of the first tax period — 31 July 2026 for a December 2025 year end. If that date has passed, the return is still on time if filed by 30 September, but the waiver is no longer available.
Small, dormant or free zone? You still file
- Revenue of AED 3 million or less: you may be able to elect Small Business Relief and pay no tax — but the election is made in the return. No return, no relief.
- Free zone company: the 0% rate on qualifying income depends on meeting the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions, and you demonstrate that by filing.
- No activity or a loss: a nil or loss return is still required. Losses can only be carried forward if they have been reported.
Books behind? A plan for the days that are left
- Today — check access. Log in to EmaraTax. Confirm the corporate tax registration, the tax period shown and that the person who will submit has the right user role.
- Collect the essentials. Twelve months of bank statements for every account, sales and purchase listings, payroll, the four VAT returns for the year, the fixed-asset list and last year's accounts.
- Get to a reconciled trial balance. Bank balances agreed, VAT control account agreed to the returns filed, receivables and payables listed, owner and related-party balances confirmed.
- Decide on Small Business Relief early. If revenue is clearly below AED 3 million in this and every earlier period, the return is much simpler — the priority is a reliable revenue figure and a set of accounts.
- Compute, review, file and pay — by 25 September if you can. The last days are when portals slow down and payments are delayed.
If a complete set of books is genuinely impossible by the deadline, speak to an adviser before deciding what to do. As a rule, a return filed on time on the best supportable figures, and corrected later through a voluntary disclosure if needed, leaves a business in a better position than no return at all — but the facts matter, and guessing is not the same as estimating.
How we help
We prepare and file corporate tax returns for owner-managed businesses in Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman and across the UAE, including catch-up bookkeeping where the records are behind. If your return is due on 30 September, send your trade licence and latest trial balance or bank statements on WhatsApp and we will tell you the same day what can be done in the time left. Read more about our corporate tax service.
Sources: Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses; Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 on administrative penalties for corporate tax violations, as amended; Federal Tax Authority guidance on the late-registration penalty waiver initiative; Ministry of Finance, Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026. Reviewed 18 September 2026.